


Midnight Confessions

by memorizingthedigitsofpi



Series: First Time for Everything [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Romance, friends with benefits with feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 03:19:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18651820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/memorizingthedigitsofpi/pseuds/memorizingthedigitsofpi
Summary: Sometimes your mouth admits things before your brain does.





	Midnight Confessions

It's funny how quickly you can get used to something. 

A few months ago, the idea of touching any part of Jemma other than her hand would have been shocking to him, but now Fitz didn't think anything of sitting on the sofa in the living room of their flat with one arm wrapped around her shoulders and his nose buried in her hair. It was just another Tuesday night. 

They'd finished studying an hour ago, but instead of moving directly into her sucking him off, they were watching a documentary about lemurs. They weren't quite as good as monkeys, but they were more interesting than he'd expected. 

Jemma squeezed his thigh and gave his leg a pat. "Be right back," she said, giving him a quick smile. "Just need to use the loo."  
  
"Want me to pause it?"

"No need. This bit was in the trailer."

Fitz chuckled as he watched her get up and go down the hall to the bathroom. Of  _course_ Jemma had watched a trailer for a documentary about lemurs. And of course she timed her bathroom break to coincide with the footage she'd already seen. 

He was still grinning to himself a few minutes later when she returned to the sofa. 

"I brought pretzels," she grinned, passing him the bag. It was already open. She put a can of Coke on the table next to him. It was already open too. 

Returning her grin, he reached into the bag for a generous handful. "See? This is why I love you."

Jemma laughed. "I love you too," she said. Then she sat down next to him and cuddled up against his side, pulling his arm around her shoulders again. 

He hadn't moved his arm himself because he was frozen in shock. He blinked at the telly, not registering the movie any longer. He forgot for a moment how to breathe as what they'd just said really struck him. 

He loved her. He was  _in love_ with her. With his best friend. 

Bloody hell. 

Looking down at Jemma, he licked his suddenly dry lips and tried to get his thoughts in order. He'd just confessed his love for her in exchange for snack foods and she'd said it back that it wasn't the most significant thing she'd ever said to him. 

Maybe she thought he was joking? He'd  _sounded_ like he was joking. He'd  _meant_ to be joking. 

Was  _she_ joking? He didn't want her to be joking. He wanted her to be 100% serious. He wanted it more than he could remember wanting anything before. 

Except -  _maybe_ \- that light saber that lit up in the dark and had the sound effects when you swung it. 

No. He actually wanted this more. 

Bloody hell. 

His mind was in a turmoil through the rest of the movie. So much so that he barely ate any of the pretzels and he didn't even sip his drink. As the credits started to roll, Jemma muted the television and sat up. When she turned to look at him, her face immediately went from pleasantly entertained to slightly worried. 

"Fitz? Are you alright?"

He swallowed hard and tried not to look too terrified. If he didn't say anything then she didn't have to know. They could go on as they were and everything would be fine. 

But if he  _did_ say something, then he'd know how she felt too. The question was, did he want to know?

"Mmhmm," he nodded quickly. He pasted an awkward smile on his face. "Fine. Why d'you ask?"

Jemma raised a brow and gave him that look that said she knew something was up. "You don't  _look_ fine," she pointed out. "You look a bit like you've seen a ghost. I did tell you to look away during that part with the snakes."

He hadn't even registered that. Neither her warning nor the snakes themselves.  If that didn't prove that he'd been all up in his head, nothing would. 

He hesitated a moment more, and Jemma reached out a cool hand to press against his cheek and then his forehead. He leaned into it as his eyes moved all over her face. 

"You don't feel as though you've got a fever..."

"Jemma? I-"

He stopped again. Oh god. He couldn't really do this, could he?

"You what?"

She had no idea what was coming. What if it ruined things? What if she decided they needed to stop having sex now that he had emotions in the way of things?

Jemma looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to find the words to say what was on his mind. She didn't look impatient at all. Just curious. She was curious about everything, Jemma was, from lemurs to lampreys to everything in the universe. She was even curious about  _him_. When he'd realized that, he'd been almost as shocked as he was now. 

He swallowed again and licked his lips. Taking a deep breath, he plunged ahead. 

"I said something when you came back from the toilet."

He winced. That was hardly a romantic thing to say to a woman. 

"You did?" She frowned, and he could tell she was trying to remember. 

It probably didn't bode well that it hadn't made any impression on her. 

"Mmhmm." He was blushing now, a bright red so pronounced that he could feel the heat radiating off of his cheeks. "I said that I-"  He closed his eyes and sent up a brief prayer to whoever might be listening. Then he opened them again to better gauge her reaction. "That I love you," he finally eked out. 

"Yes?"

She was still looking at him expectantly, as if that weren't the revelation that he'd expected it to be. 

"Ehm. Well." This was bloody awkward, wasn't it? Why couldn't he be more suave than this? He should have planned this out. Said it on purpose. But it was out there now and he couldn't very well just  _stop_ , so...

"I meant it."

Jemma nodded. "And?"

"And?" It was Fitz's turn to look confused. "I just said that I love you. Romantically. I'm  _in love_ with you. I, Fitz, love you, Jemma, with my heart and my emotions and things!"

He was sounding distinctly grumpy now and once again he wished that he knew how to sweep a girl off her feet. However one might do it, this was definitely not the way. 

"I know," Jemma nodded. "And I love you too."

She said it like it was the most bloody obvious thing in the world. He stared at her like she might possibly be an alien inside Jemma Simmons' body. 

After a moment in which he didn't say anything, she continued. "Romantically. With my heart and my emotions and things." 

There was a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth and she wrapped her arms around his middle and gave him a kiss. He was still feeling confused and a bit grumpy and his brows were still wrinkled as he kissed her back. 

"Why are you making such a big deal of it all of the sudden?" she asked. She brushed his hair back from his forehead and then cupped his cheek, still smiling. "I expected this sort of a fuss the  _first_ time we said it, not two weeks later."

She chuckled, but he just stared. 

"Two weeks...?" he asked weakly. He wracked his brain, trying to think of when in the last two weeks he might have told Jemma he loved her. 

"Yes," she said. Her tone was just as matter-of-fact as it had been when she'd returned his love confession and he found himself just as irritated by that fact. He was slightly mollified when she seemed to realize that he didn't know what she meant. 

"You've been saying it every night for..." She looked up and did a bit of mental math. "Twelve days now. Right when we're falling asleep."

Fitz's jaw dropped as he stared at her. They'd started sharing a bed the month before, deciding that it didn't make any sense to sleep apart when they were already in bed together anyway after having sex. 

"I have?" he asked. To say he was surprised would be understating things.

"You have," Jemma grinned. "And I've been waking you up with I love you's that whole time as well. And not once have you made a big deal of it." She gave him a petulant look. "I have to admit, I wondered why." Her face broke into a wide smile again and she laughed, shaking her head. "And it turns out it was just because you weren't actually awake when we were saying it."

Fitz wanted to be able to retort, to say that that was ridiculous, but he didn't really care. Jemma was happy and they were in love with each other. That was the important thing. 

But still.

Wincing slightly, he sighed. "I don't suppose you'll let me have a do-over?" he asked. "Take you out for dinner somewhere nice and say it to you under the moonlight and pretend it's the first time?" He gave her a hopeful look and his heart flipped over when she kissed him tenderly again. 

"Say what?" she asked when their lips parted. Her eyes were shining even as she smiled. "You haven't said anything to me. Yet."


End file.
